LIVING ON THE EDGE

In our quest as church leaders to be relevant, we often find ourselves in a battle between being Relevant or being Holy. I wonder if the church today is sacrificing “personal holiness” in order to reach the un-churched. It seems as if the more relevant we try to become the less like Christ we appear.

I love the stories of how Jesus would hang out with those non-religious people and thus tick off the churchy folk. But I wonder if he acted and spoke like the non-religious people or did He exemplify a stark contrast to their behavior? (Example: Woman at the well). I tend to believe He was pure in His actions, pure in His speech and pure in His thought. Paul in Ephesians 4:29 teaches us “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

Too often we rebel and think that “holiness” is too churchy and if I act “holy” people will get turned off to our church and/or Jesus. So we go the opposite direction to the point where the non-believer cannot tell any difference in a Christ follower and a non-Christian. We talk like them, act like them, and we laugh at their dirty jokes etc.

Now before you go crazy and start branding me a “holy roller” or a hypocrite, let me remind us that the word “HOLY” simply means to be set apart. (2 Corinthians 6) This does not mean we should be isolated from the world, the un-churched or those who are anti-Christ but rather insulated. Walking in the spirit. It also does not mean we stick our nose in the air like those pious religious people Jesus loved to mess with or those who hung Him on the cross. No. It means we act like, talk like and love like Jesus. We don’t need to sacrifice personal holiness or our fun in order to be relevant.

Jesus in John 12:32 said that all we need to do is make Him known and he would draw all men to himself. So if we are striving to be like Christ in ALL areas of our life, our speech, our actions, our daily walk and make Him famous then people will be drawn to the Christ in us not the fact we are trying to relevant.

Read this for additional study-Matthew 5:13-16

Just a follow up the last post.

My message last Sunday and my last post have stirred some emotions in some people. Some think I’m going to be some elite pastor who has nothing to do with his congregations and just be a tyrant. Others have this fear that I really quit and have lost my mind.

Just to clarify, I am going to continue to lead WC and do the things God has instructed me, called me and equipped me to do. I will always be available to our members and will love them as a shepherd loves his sheep. I just won’t be doing all the “busy work” that the enemy would love nothing more for me to do in order to keep me from my main task of praying and teaching the Word.

So, if you were upset or concerned, rest easy, I quit but I’m still on the job loving what I do and loving Westchester.

Sunday was awesome for me-a liberating day and one I won’t forget for a long time.

Sunday I decided to resign. QUIT. YEP. You heard it right. I QUIT. I am tired and facing burnout so I decided to let someone else do it for a change. Let some of those younger dudes do the work.

This past week while prepping for this talk, I came to the realization I can’t do this any more.

I was reading the story of Moses where he was facing burnout because he was doing all the preaching, teaching, agriculture, banking, baptism, bartering, clothing, complaints, communication, construction, immigration, justice, livestock and maintenance. He did it all. So he called in the very first management consultant- his father-in-law Jethro. Jethro gave Mo some classic advise-“STOP!!! You’re going to kill yourself. You need to get some guys to help ya and you need Aaron to be your assistant”. So, Mo took the advice and got him some leaders and let Aaron be his # 2 guy, to do the STUFF.

In Acts chapter 6 the church was experiencing radical growth and some people began to complain about the widows not being cared for. So they asked the pastors about it and the pastors said it would not be good for them to neglect the ministry of the Word so they told the people to get some guys that are spirit led and will give them this task.

What I learned from this was PASTORS CAN’T DO IT ALL. We need to delegate some authority to our people and let them do the work so “We will give our attention to prayer and the teaching of the word.” Acts 6:4.

I made a deal with our people today that if they took care of the ministry I would make sure they were well fed. They liked that idea.

I have heard all this before and even taught it but just recently has God set me free from the burden of DOING IT ALL. So, I quit.